ComicsResearch.org: Comics in General

A list of book-length, general studies on the history and criticism of the comics form. Individual book entries may include the book's Table of Contents, on-site reviews, printed or online review citations, links to on-line information, and more. For other general overviews, see Specific Countries .

Reviews and Additional Information: If you'd like to suggest titles or contribute a review of one of these books, please contact us.

For more information on the relationship between text and image, be sure to visit these other web sites:

75 Years of the Comics. 1971. Intro. Maurice Horn. Boston and New York: Boston Book & Art / New York Cultural Center. SBN 843510102 (hc).

Ahrens, Jörn and Arno Meteling, eds. 2010. Comics and the City: Urban Space in Print, Picture and Sequence. Continuum.

Baetens, Jan. 1998. Formes et politique de la Bande Dessinée. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1998. 151 pp. ISBN 90-429-0709-6 (Peeters Leuven), ISBN 2-877234142 (Peeters France)

Baetens, Jan, ed. 2001. The Graphic Novel. Symbolae Facultatis Litterarum Lovaniensis - Series D - Volume 13. Leuven: Leuven University Press. 212 pp. ISBN 90-5867-109-7 (paper).

Baetens, Jan, and Pascal Lefèvre. Pour une lecture moderne de la bande dessinée (French version) / Strips anders lezen (Dutch version) . Amsterdam: Stichting Sherpa; Bruxelles: Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée, 1993. ISBN 907299566X (French); 9072995651 (Dutch).

Baetens, Jan and Mireille Ribière, eds. Time, Narrative & The Fixed Image / Temps, narration & image fixe. Faux Titre collection (Études de langue et littérature françaises). Amsterdam/Atlanta, GA: Rodopi 2001. 226 pp. ISBN 9042013664 (paper). Buy It!

Barker, Keith, ed. Graphic Account. Library Association Youth Libraries Group, 1993. ISBN 0-946581-16-9.

Baumgärtner, A.C. Die Welt der Comics. Bochum: Kamp, 1965.

Bea, Josep Maria. La técnica del comic.

Bell, Blake. "I Have to Live with this Guy!" Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows, 2002. 208pp. ISBN 1-893905-16-0 (paper). [publisher's information]

Bongco, Mila. Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Comcept of the Superhero in Comic Books . Garland Studies in American Popular History and Culture. New York and London: Garland, 2000. 238 pp. ISBN 0-8153-3344-7 (hc).

Carrier, David. The Aesthetics of Comics . University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. 139 pp. ISBN 0-271-01962-X (hc).

Clark, Alan & Laurel. Comics: An Illustrated History .

Clarke, Phil and Mike Higgs. Nostalgia About Comics . Assisted by Sue Williams. Pegasus, 1991. n.p. ISBN 1-873892-00-4 (paper).

Comic Iconoclasm . UK: Institue of Contemporary Art, 1987[?].

Comics and Ideology. 2001. Ed. Matthew P. McAllister, Edward H. Sewell, and Ian Gordon. Popular Culture and Everyday Life, Vol. 2. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Couperie, Pierre, and Marice C. Horn. A History of the Comic Strip . [Bande Dessinée et Figuration Narrative (France: 1967).] New York: Crown Publishers, 1968.

Davidson, Steef. The Penguin Book of Political Comics . Trans. Hester and Marianne Velmans. [Beeldeen Storm: De Ontwikkeling van de Politieke Strip (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 1976).] Harmondsworth and New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

della Corte, Carlo. I Fumetti . Encyclopedia Popolare Mondadori. Italy: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1961. (paper)

Dierick, Charles and Pascal Lefèvre, eds. Forging a New Medium: The Comic Strip in the Nineteenth Century . Brussels: VUB University Press, 1998. 214 pp. ISBN 90-5487-206-3.

Doetsch [Dretsch?], M. Comics und ihre jugendlichen Leser . Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1958.

Dorfman, Ariel. The Empire's Old Clothes. New York: Pantheon, 1983.

Douglas, Allen, and Fedwa Malti-Douglas. Arab Comic Strips: Politics of an Emerging Mass Culture . Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994. 263 pp. ISBN 0-253-31814-9 (cloth), 0-253-20831-9 (paper).

Eisner , Will. Comics and Sequential Art . Expanded Edition. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press, 1985.

Eisner , Will. Graphic Storytelling. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press, 1996.

Fern, A. Comics as Serial Fiction. M.A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1968.

Gaumer, Patrick, and Claude Moliterni, eds. Dictionaire Mondial de la Bande Dessinée . Paris: Larousse, 1994. ISBN 2-03-523510-3.

Geipel, John. The Cartoon: A Short History of Graphic Comedy and Satire. South Brunswick and New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1972. ISBN 0498011496 (cloth).

Gifford, Denis. International Book of Comics.

Goulart, Ron. Comic Book Encyclopedia. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. 378pp. ISBN 0060538163 (hc.) Buy It!

Goulart, Ron. The Great Comic Book Artists. New York: St. Martin's P, 1986. 128pp. ISBN 0312345577 (paper). Buy It!

Goulart, Ron. The Great Comic Book Artists, Volume 2. New York: St. Martin's P, 1989. 113pp. ISBN 0-312-01768-5 (paper).

Groensteen, Thierry (ed.) Bande Dessinée, Récit et Modernité . Paris: Futuropolis, 1988. 173 pp. ISBN 2-7376-5689-3.

Groensteen, Thierry. The System of Comics. Trans. Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. ISBN 1578069254 (cloth).

Groensteen, Thierry. Système de la Bande Dessinée. Formes Sémiotiques. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1999.

Gutjahr, Paul and Megan L. Benton, eds. Illuminating Letters: Typography and Literary Interpretation . Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001. 198 pp. ISBN 1-55849-288-7 (hc).

Harrison, R.P. 1981. The Cartoon--Communication to the Quick. Beverly Hills, CA.

Heer, Jeet, and Kent Worcester, eds. 2004. Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.

Heer, Jeet, and Kent Worcester, eds. 2008. A Comics Studies Reader. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.

Hess, Thomas B. and John Ashbery, eds. 1970. Narrative Art. Art News Annual XXXVI. New York: Macmillan. 166pp.

Horn. Maurice, ed. The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons . New York and London: Chelsea House, 1981.

Horn, Maurice, ed. The World Encyclopedia of Comics. New York: Chelsea House, 1976. ISBN 0-87754-030-6.

Horn, Maurice, ed. The World Encyclopedia of Comics. Revised and Updated. New York: Chelsea House, 1998. 1,062 pp.

Horn, Robert E. Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21st Century . Bainbridge Island, WA: MacroVU, 1998. 270 pp. ISBN 1-892637-09-X (paper).

Howe, Sean, ed. and introduction. Give Our Regards to the Atom Smashers! Writers on Comics. New York: Pantheon, 2004. 228pp. ISBN 0375422560 (hc).

Hünig, Wolfgang K. Strukturen des Comic Strip. Ansätze zu einer textlinguistisch-semiotischen Analyse narrativer comics . Hildesheim and New York: Geirg Olms Verlag, 1974.

Kaukoranta, Heikki and Jukka Kemppinen. Sarjakuvat. Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtio Otava, 1982. ISBN 951-1-06710-9 (hc).

Kempkes, Wolfgang. 1974. Bibliographie der internationalen Literatur über Comics, 2., verbesserte Auflage / International Bibliography of Comics Literature, 2nd revised edition. Pullach/München, Verlag Dokumentation. 293 pp. (1st edition, 1971.)

Kunzle, David. The Early Comic Strip.

Kunzle, David. The History of the Comic Strip: The Nineteenth Century. Berkeley: University Press of California, 1990.

Lent, John A., compiler. Comic Art in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America: A Comprehensive, International Bibliography. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1996.

Lent, John A. Comic Art of Europe: An International, Comprehensive Bibliography. Bibliographies and Indexes in Popular Culture, no. 5. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0-313-28212-9 (cloth). *P*

Magnussen, Anne and Hans-Christian Christiansen, eds. Comics & Culture: Analytical and Theoretical Approaches to Comics. Copenhagen, Denmark: Museum Tusculanum P / University of Copenhagen, 2000. ISBN 87-7289-650-2.

McCloud, Scott. Reinventing Comics. Font Designed by John Roshell. New York: Paradox Press-DC Comics, 2000. 252 pp. No ISBN (sc).

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art . Northampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press, 1993. *P* *O*

McCloud, Scott. L'art invisible. Comprendre la bande dessinée. Traduit de l'anglais par Dominique Petitfaux. Éd. Vertige Graphic, 1999[?].

McLaughlin, Jeff, ed. Comics as Philosophy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005. 256pp. ISBN 1578067944 (cloth). Publisher's information. Buy It!

Metken, G. Comics. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1970.

Moliterni, Claude, Philippe Mellot, and Michel Denni. Les aventures de la BD. Gallimard, 1996. ISBN 2-07-0533341-7.

Morgan, Harry & Manuel Hirtz. Le Petit Critique Illustré. France: PLG, 1997. ISBN 2950562833.

Naepel, Oliver. Auschwitz im Comic- Die Abbildung unvorstellbarer Zeitgeschichte. [i.e.: Auschwitz in Comics - The Depiction of Unimaginable Contemporary History.] Muenster: LIT, 1998. ISBN 3-8258-3703-3.

Peeters, Benoît. La bande dessinée. Paris: Flammarion, 1993. 127 pp.ISBN 2080351745.

Peeters, Benoît. Case, planche, récit: lire la bande dessinée. Paris/Tournai: Casterman, 1998. (first published in 1991 with subtitle ‘comment lire une bande dessinée.’) 144 pp. ISBN 2-203-32610-7.

Perry, George, and Alan Aldridge. The Penguin Book of Comics. 1967. Revised London: Penguin, 1989.

Pieper, Gail W., with Kenneth D. Nordin and Joseph Ursitti. Understanding the Funnies: Critical Interpretations of Comic Strips. Lisle, IL: Procopian Press, 1997. 180pp.

Pilcher, Tim and Brad Brooks. The Essential Guide to World Comics. Foreword by Dave Gibbons. London: Collins & Brown, 2005. 320pp. ISBN 1843403005. Buy It!

Plowright, Frank, ed. The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide. Aurum P, 1997. 448pp. ISBN 1854104861 (paper).

Plowright, Frank, ed. The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide. 2nd edition. Slings & Arrows Ltd., 2003. 787pp. ISBN 0954458907 (paper).

Poliester 2:6, Summer 1993.

Print XLII:VI, November/December 1988.

Reitberger, Reinhold and Wolfgang Fuchs. Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium . Little, Brown, 1972. English-language edition of Comics: Anatomie eines Massenmediums. *P*

Renard, J. Bruno. Clefs pour la bande dessinée . Seghers, 1978.

Rey, Alain. Les Spectres de la bande dessinée . Ed. de Minuit, 1979.

Riha, K. Zok roarr wumm, Zur Geschichte der Comics Literature . Steinbach: Anabas, 1970.

Rothschild, D. Aviva. Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Full-Length Comics. Libraries Unlimited, 1995. 245 p. ISBN 1-56308-086-9 (cloth).

Sabin, Roger. Adult Comics: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.

Sabin, Roger. Comics, Comix, & Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art . London: Phaidon P, 1996. ISBN 0714830089

Sadoul, Jacques. 93 ans de BD . Paris: J'ai Lu, 1989. ISBN 2227225614 (paper).

Saraceni, Mario. The Language of Comics. Intertext. London and New York: Routledge, 2003. 110pp. ISBN 0-415-28670-0 (hc); 041521422X (paper).

Scott, Randall W. The Comic Art Collection Catalog: An Author, Artist, Title, and Subject Catalog of the Comic Art Collection, Special Collections Division, Michigan State University. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press.

Silbermann, Alphons and H.-D. Dyroff, eds. Comics and Visual Culture: Research Studies from Ten Countries / La BD et la culture visuelle: Traveaux de recherche réalisés dans dix pays / Comics und visuelle Kultur: Forschungsbeiträge aus zehn Ländern . München, New York, London, Paris: K.G. Saur, 1986 ISBN 3-598-10604-1 (hc). 264pp.

Spaulding, Amy. The Page as a Stage Set: Storyboard Picture Books. Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, 1995. 281pp. ISBN 0810828928 (cloth).

Sternberg, J, Caen, M., Lob, J. Le chefs-d'oeuvre de la bande dessinée . Paris: Anthologie Planête, 1967.

Szabo, Joe and John A. Lent. Cartoonometer: Taking the Pulse of the World's Cartoonists. North Wales, PA: WittyWorld, 1994. 124pp. ISBN 0-9631600-6-0 (paper).

Szenarien des Comic: Helden und Historien im Medium der Schriftbildlichkeit. Herausgegeben von Stefanie Diekmann und Matthias Schneider. SuKuLTuR, 2006. 222pp. ISBN 393773788X.

Varnum, Robin, and Christina T. Gibbons, eds. 2002. The Language of Comics: Word and Image . Studies in Popular Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Vidal-Folch, Ignacio, and Ramón de España. El Canon de los Comics . Glénat, 199?. 152pp.

Walker, Mort. The Lexicon of Comicana. Port Chester, N.Y.: Museum of Cartoon Art, c1980. rpt: Backinprint.com, 2000. 108pp. ISBN 059508902X. Buy it!

Welke, M. Die Sprache der Comics. Frankfurt: dipa, 1958.

Wertham, Fredric. The World of Fanzines . Southern Illinois UP, 1974[?].

Wetemke, J., ed. Comics und Religion . Munich, 1976.

Yoe, Craig. Weird but True Toon Factoids. NY: Random House, 1999. 128pp. ISBN 0517201704 (hc). Buy It!

Zimmermann, H.D. ed. Comic Strips . Berlin: Gebrüder Mann, 1970.

WebLink: The Grand Comic Database Public Site: an ambitious project to assemble complete information on every comic book ever published.

WebLink: Il fumetto: dalle origini al Primo Novecento: First page of an Italian-language history of comics.

WebLink: Inventory of Comic- and Cartoon-Related Books: Listing of Gwillim Law's collection of comics and related books.